


hope holds a home inside you (and i don't deserve it)

by Estopher



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Niles Deserves Contentedness 2K17, Self-Worth Issues, u have to hold him for at Least 6 yrs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-15 01:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9213953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estopher/pseuds/Estopher
Summary: “You are a person, just like I am. If you do not deserve me, I do not deserve you.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is kind of a character exploration piece? mostly on niles. but also a piece on corrin and niles' soft dynamic.
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> also decided to go with f!corrin this time around, since everything i touch usually turns out gay. but i love f!corrin just as i love m!corrin SO. here we are ig

He wonders why she even tolerates him. He is not of her caliber; he is dirty, and blemished, and unworthy of the kindness she so readily bestows upon him on a daily basis. She says, “I love you”, but rarely, her affections speaking louder through her actions than through her words. She brings him coffee when she knows he’s slept not, she makes sure he eats enough when his absence from the mess tent becomes too regular an occurrence, she holds his hand in the night when he does manage to catch sleep so as to keep the nightmares at bay...

And what does Niles do for Corrin? “I am undeserving of you,” he whispers as they lay on his bed roll late at night. His large fingers card gently through her hair, and she moves closer in spite of his words.

“Your mouth needs to learn when to stop running,” Corrin whispers back. She opens her tired eyes to give him a look of utter adoration, and Niles feels like he drowns in it. “You really don't notice how important you are to me, do you?”

He is at a loss, because while her expression holds all the love in the world for him, there is a quiet impatience, exasperation, a touch of “Are you actually kidding me right now, Niles?”

When he doesn't answer, she sighs. “Remember back,” she says, as if they've known each other for years, “Who is it that brings me my plate when I've been so wrapped up in a map to even bother eating?

“Who is it that had opened their tent to some 'silly noble' just so that she may rest for a few moments?

“Who is it that makes time in the day, his busy schedule be damned, to check on that silly noble, just to make sure she hasn't passed out from exhaustion?”

This conversation is irritating him. “Why do you say?” he near growls, his hands retracting from her body as she only moves closer, stubbornly. “Those things don't matter.”

Corrin moves until she is half on top of him, hands holding his shoulders, almost pinning him to the floor because she can see it in his eye: he's looking for every exit to flee. “They matter to me.”

He won't look at her. He is set in his hateful ways, to hate himself, and had resigned himself to do it alone. ‘She has ruined everything,’ he thinks bitterly, though he knows in his heart to be the opposite.

She raises one of her hands, and her throat catches on a sob when he flinches. Still, she presses it tenderly to his cheek, her thumb rubbing circles into the soft skin beneath his eye. “I love you so much, Niles. You do so much for me, with so little time on your hands, everyday.” She leans in to kiss him softly (his lips itch to press back, but his nonexistent self-worth holds them still). “You mean the worlds to me, and I wish only for a comfortable life with you.”

There's a burning in Niles’ chest; it raises to his throat and makes his voice weak when he says, “You're making a mistake.”

“You're the best decision I've made yet.”

“I'll do nothing but hinder you.”

“You do nothing but help me, each day.”

“I can't make you happy.”

“I'm at my happiest when I'm with you.”

His eye burns. “I do not deserve you.”

When the tear falls, Corrin is quick to catch it with her thumb, which she then replaces with her kiss. “You are a person, just like I am. If you do not deserve me, I do not deserve you.”

The dam breaks, and he holds her against him until she feels she might shatter. He shakes, and his chest heaves, and all she can do is hold him just as tightly and leave kisses on the top of his head. His problems aren't solved, but a step has been made, and she will see it through to the end. Even if it may take her the rest of her life.

**Author's Note:**

> niles might not be the _best_ person out there, but he deserves love just as anyone else does!!
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> thank u for reading, my buds


End file.
